Hey all!
I am new to the boards...was considering swaping my 1987 2.8L V6 to am 8, but wanna check all my possibilities.
What kind of mods and upgrades can I do to '87 2.8L...any ideas would be good, thnx.

 

I'd be mildly interested in hearing the responses to your question, as I have an '87 Firebird with the same stuff you have. But in terms of performance, I simply have a GTA with a 350 TPI. But seriously, get the car tuned up if you haven't already. I'm struggling to get my 2.8 tuned up all by meself, still have to do the fuel filter and ignition schtuff, as well as timing. And a convertor. And an A/C recharge. And a bottle of top-end cleaner. And an interior swap. And...

If you have money and parking, just get another 3rdgen. Why have one when you can have TWO?

 

There isnt too many mods you can do to the 2.8 that will gain you much power. Also I'd agree with pvt on buying another 3rd gen. You will probably spend the same amount of $ on the swap as you will on another car.

I'd do anything not to hae to work on those damn motor mounts again!

 

we just did this to my brothers car and its not that bad to do i dont believe in the buy another car instead of swapping engines in yours of course it all depends on how much you like your car and how mechanically challenged you are. the engine mounts are not the easiest to do but if you have two guys to do it its not to bad to do just takes patience and its alot easier with the engine out of the car ..but the rest of the swap isnt to dificult just take your time and have paitience because it will not be a 2 day swap itll take you some time to do your wireing and figure out all the little pieces you have to deal with ..just remember that about everything on your 2.8 will not swap over to a v8 .

 

what do you all know about the 3.4L swap ... i heard it is still a 60 degree engine, and a clean swap .... any thoughts...

 

never done that one but if you search on here you will find that quite a few have and have listed what all had to be done to do it

 

The 3.4 swap seems ( i have not done it) to be alot easier than the v8 swap. I remember reading someone taking off the tires to see more while changing the motor mounts. General was it you ?

 

yeah if you take the tires off you can see inide the k member thru the springs and get a better look at what you are taking off

 

Actually, I had it backwards. I got the GTA first. THEN I got the base-model Firebird. I drive the Firebird to work and back, and save the GTA for more fun things. I got the Firebird for only 300 bucks, after I fix it up some I'm going to sell it for a profit and dump the money into the GTA!

 

This is just my opinion:


If your looking for a fast car, don't even bother with the 2.8l to 3.1 if your goal is to have anything faster than 15 seconds in the 1/4 mile. Takes alot of money and custom mods to make V6 thirdgen to go really fast. V8 swaps are alot of work especially if you have a computer and want efi. I would never do a V8 swap in a V6 unless the body of car was just in mint shape.


I personally choose to keep my V6 because its cheap, easy to mantain, easy on the gas, doesn't cost me alot in insurance, and for some reason is still fun. Id rather have my v6 thirdgen as oppossed to a Cavelier or some import for daily driver.


Im still going to mod my V6 so that the engine is working at its potential instead of at a lower level than it has to be. It won't be super fast, but still will be fun to drive.


I think it just saves headaches to buy a V8 car if you are a speed freak, unless you have wads of dollars to add some serious boost to your V6 or have the cash to get a TTA or get your hands on a GN motor.